Australia - Tasmania

We took the short flight from Melbourne to Hobart in Tasmania on a Monday afternoon.  Hobart is a relatively quiet airport and we had a quick exit and took an Uber into the center of Hobart.  We had a booking at the Movenpick Hotel just a stone’s throw away from the harbor.  The Movenpick, being Swiss, has a chocolate hour at 3:00 pm so after checking in we indulged in chocolate and wine.  

Movenpick by the way takes its name from the seagull (Moven) and its picky way of eating.  That doesn’t seem the best of ways for naming your hotel chain but thankfully most of the world don’t know the etymology.

We walked around the central area of Hobart.  It is a relatively small and compact city when compared to Sydney and Melbourne and the central district can be covered in an afternoon.  

Customs House, Hobart

First we went into the tourist office to ask for advice on what to see, what to do in Tasmania.  We had ambitious plans, but the agent in the office was doubtful that’s we could travel that far in just 5 days.  I don’t think that she was fully aware of what an active pair of 70 yr olds we were.

Salamanca Market, Hobart

We went over to the Salamanca Market Square and walked around the shops.  The larger market with all the stalls was not open while we were there but apparently when it is, it is quite a popular destination for tourists and residents alike.  The market was named after Duke of Wellington’s victory over Spain in the Battle of Salamanca.  It is surprising how many references there are to the colonial past and to British military battles in Australia.  The early colonists must have closely followed what was going on militarily and politically back in the old country.

Hobart Harbor

After the market, we walked up towards the government buildings and then back down to the harbor once more.  

Monument to Women Deportees

There were a couple of monuments in the harbor area - one to the women that were transported to the penal colony in Tasmania, the other to Antarctic exploration, in particular to the exploits of Douglas Mawson the geologist and explorer.  Mawson had a most interesting life.  He was on Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition, he declined to join Scott’s expedition, he led his own expedition and had a near death experience before then serving in the British Army during World War I.  What a life.

Monument to Mawson’s Antarctic Expedition

That evening we dined in the hotel and studied the maps to plan our journey for the next few days,

The next morning after breakfast we took an Uber back to the airport to pick up a car.  All they had was a huge Ford Expedition Diesel.  Larger than we reserved or wanted but we got used to it and really enjoyed all the space. 

Ferry to Bruny Island

Our first destination was to Bruny Island.  We drove to the town of Kettering from where the Bruny Island ferries depart.  There was quite a line of cars and we couldn’t get on the first one.  We didn’t have long to wait for another one - the two ferry boats run continuously and it is only a 10 minute journey

Bruny Neck

On Bruny we drove south to Bruny Neck, the thin isthmus of land that separates North and South Bruny Island.  At the Neck there is a causeway that has been built over from the road to the beach and another up to the top of the hill and the Troganini Lookout from where there is a great view to South Bruny.  The Neck is the breeding site for Short Tailed Shearwaters and Fairy Penguins.  Unfortunately, in late April, neither of these birds are in residence so we had to make do with the fine views.

Cape Bruny Lighthouse

Cape Bruny

We drove south through beautiful countryside and through the small towns of Alonnah and Lunawanna.  From there we took the dirt road to Cape Bruny Lighthouse at the southern end of the island.  The eucalyptus forests were dense and lush and the beaches were just gorgeous if a little chilly.  At the southern end of the island there were impressive columnar basalt cliffs.

Coal Point Conservation Area

On the way back north to the ferry we diverted out to Adventure Bay and the beach at Coal Point Conservation Area.  The beach was beautiful and deserted with the eucalyptus forest coming right down to the waters edge.

Richmond Bridge

We took the ferry back to the mainland, or at least mainland Tasmania, and then drove north through Hobart and out the other side towards Richmond.  The guidebooks indicated Richmond was a town that tourists visit.  However, late in the afternoon, as the sun was setting, it was pretty quiet.  The bridge over the Coal River is very beautiful and it is the oldest bridge still in use in the whole of Australia.  The town also has the oldest Anglican Church and the oldest Catholic Church in Australia.  Not bad for a little unassuming town. 

Richmond Anglican Church

There was little else happening in the town.  All the shops were closed and all the restaurants except the Richmond Hotel were closed.  We dined at the Richmond Hotel.  Good bar food - a typical Australian pub I think.

We drove over to the town of Sorrel where we were staying for the night.  The hotel was a modern hotel on a winery.  It was trying a little too hard to be high tech - fancy air con fan that somehow couldn’t be turned off, a motion sensor in the bathroom that turned on the full bright lights anytime you walked in - not what you want in the middle of the night, a night light would have been sufficient.  First world problems.

The next morning we got to explore our hotel a little more - it is really a resort type hotel for weddings and the like.  They have a vineyard, an orchard and animals (sheep, llamas, goats).  A nice setting but the room was a little unfriendly.

We drove north to Orford where we stopped for breakfast - a latte and a cake served by a very friendly woman - the Australians are generally quite a friendly lot.

Mayfield Bay and Beach

We then drove further north on the coast road, stopping at various beaches along the way - Raspins Beach, Rocky Hills Beach, Mayfield Beach.  We drove to Coles Bay and into Freycinet National Park.  There were some nice rock exposures in the park - reddish pink granites or metamorphics maybe.  The beaches were many and beautiful.

Binalong Bay

Welcome to Binalong Bay

Further north, we visited Binalong Bay, a town that has a statue of a young bikini clad woman at its entrance - not sure what they are trying to promote with that.  From Binalong you can look north towards the Bay of Fires.  This entire area is a beautiful coastline - nice rock formations, beautiful yellow sand, nice blue sea.

Black Swan

We then turned back westwards towards Launceston.  On way in the town of St Helen’s we saw our first Black Swans.  I always thought they were quite rare but after our first sighting we saw many more.  A beautiful bird.

Launceston

We arrived in Launceston just before sunset.  Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania.  It has many claims to fame - the first Australian city with an underground sewer, the first Australian city powered by hydro-electric power, and weirdly, the first place where an anesthetic was used in the southern hemisphere.  We parked and walked around the town - many nice old buildings, nice churches, but it was the end of the day and most things were closed.

We drove further west towards the Cradle Mountain area stopping in the town of Deloraine for the night.  We found a nice little hotel, rather basic, but very friendly, staffed entirely by young cheerful Asian ladies.  The same ladies ran the hotel restaurant where we dined.  When the staff have a good attitude it spreads to your attitude and you are more tolerant with a few minor issues.

It rained quite heavily in the night but the next morning it was a beautiful clear day.  We checked out and drove through Deloraine which turned out to be quite a nice town.  

Award Winning Pies in Deloraine

We stopped for breakfast at a bakery/coffee shop that advertised its “award winning pies”.  They looked wonderful and they tasted really good.  

Sculpture in Deloraine

The Meander River flows through the town and there was an interesting sculpture in the park adjacent to the river flowed through- a pretty town.

East of Deloraine towards Cradle Mountain

We drove west towards Cradle Mountain.  The rain we experienced in the night must have fallen as snow in the highlands and there were great views of the mountains to the south of the road with a dusting of snow on them. 

Snow on ferns and eucalyptus near Cradle Mountain

As we got higher into the mountains the forests became more dense with tall eucalyptus and ferns.  Then we got into the snow.  The roads were clear but there was snow in the trees.

We approached Cradle Mountain National Park and stopped at the lodge for a break.  We went inside and got warmed up at the side of the fire with a nice cup of cocoa.  It was fairly chilly up high and it was raining intermittently.  Not the best of days so we didn’t explore any further and we drove on towards Queenstown.

There were signs that the area would be quite spectacular on a nicer day but sadly the weather didn’t cooperate when we were there.  

The West Coast Wilderness Railway

We stopped in Queenstown to get more diesel.  Just as we finished re-fueling the tourist steam train came into the station.  The West Coast Wilderness Railway is a cog railway that runs a few miles out of Queenstown up into the hills.  The engine built in Glasgow in the late 1800’s is a thing of great beauty.    

The Hunter’s Hotel, Queenstown

Queenstown was the center of gold mining in the area in the late 1800’s.  Since the demise of mining in the area it has become dependent on the tourism industry.  

We left Queenstown and continued our drive south.  On an overlook above the town we talked with a motorcycle rider who was looking a bit cold and weather beaten.  He was the lead motorcycle in a group of some 160 riders.  For the next 2 or 3 hours we continued to pass motorcycles coming towards us.  

Hydro Electric Plant on the Neve River

As we descended down hill we passed several hydro electric plants.  About 80% of Tasmania’s electricity comes from hydro generation.

Near Ouse

As we got further down into the lowlands the weather became milder and the skies were blue.  The forests gave to grassland and sheep and cattle grazing.

It was dark when we came into Hobart.  We checked into the Movenpick Hotel, the same one that we stayed at a few days earlier.  We were exhausted from all the driving.  We dined in the hotel and were in bed early.

The Catamarans for MONA from Hobart

 The next morning we had a reservation to visit the MONA gallery.  MONA stands for Museum of Old and New Art.  This included a boat ride from Hobart over to the nearby Berriedale Peninsula.  We were at the dock 9:00 to board the high speed catamaran over to the gallery.  It was about a 20 minute journey.

The museum is the creation of David Walsh, a man that made a lot of money gambling, particularly gambling on horse racing.  Somehow he developed a system that allowed him to accumulate significant amounts of money from racing.  Apparently he won over $16 million Australian from one Melbourne Cup meet.

The bar deep down in MONA

The labyrinth of walkways and stairs between floors

 Arriving at the museum you walk up a series of steps and step inside the entry.  You then descend three stories down a spiral staircase into the bowels of the museum.  There are three floors of large galleries all below ground connected by a labyrinth of passages and walkways.  You work your way from the bottom to the top and the exit.  There are no identifications on any of the art pieces, you can only determine what you are looking at by using a phone app.

We are all flesh - De Bruckyere

Ai Wei Wei’s Qing Dynasty House

The fat red Porsche - Erwin Wurm

 It is a most interesting gallery - some pieces shocking, some pieces disturbing, some pieces old and conventional, many modern and controversial.  There was a Damian Hurst painting made of dead flies, a model of a dead horse hanging by a strap around its belly, a large head with view ports in the skull where you could look inside the brain to see light flashes, birds flying around and all sorts of frenzied behavior, the odd Picasso, a giant Sidney Nolan Mural, an Ai Wei Wei installation of a wooden Qing Dynasty house mounted on glass spheres, a fat shiny red Porsche.

We paid a little extra to go through a piece called Dante’s Inferno by Alfredo Jaar.  Based on the Divine Comedy it was three separate rooms - Hell, Purgatory and Heaven.  In the first one you have to wear a safety harness and take of anything that might fall off into the exhibit (a swirling cauldron of water).  It is a combination of heat from heaters above your head that get progressively hotter and closer and a swirling cauldron of water that slowly fills up beneath you.  The Purgatory room was a video of an old woman acting out her own death beneath a bed on a floor of dead leaves and twigs.  The heaven room was, not surprising the most pleasant.  An anechoic chamber with blue sky and a beautiful cloud of white vapor descending from the ceiling.  You can hear your heart beat in the total quiet of the anechoic chamber.

We spent a good 4 or 5 hours working our way up to the top of the gallery and the exit to the grounds outside.  It is all in a beautiful setting close to the water and with an adjacent vineyard.  Around 3:00 in the afternoon we made our way to the boat dock and our ride back to Hobart.

Hobart Harbor

 Hobart is a beautiful city, especially when approaching from the water.  An impressive modern bridge over the wide Derwent River estuary, the houses stretching up the hillside from the central district near the harbor.

Back in Hobart we had another coffee and cake break at a cafe near the Salamanca Market. Then it was to the hotel to pick up our car and drive out of town for our last night in Tasmania.

Stewarts Bay

 We were staying near Port Arthur a penal colony where in the early 1800’s many prisoners exiled from the UK were imprisoned.  We were staying at Stewarts Bay Lodge, a collection of cabins adjacent to the ocean.  What we didn’t know at the time was that the lodge was the next development south of the Seascape resort where in 1996 a gunman killed 35 people and wounded 23 - Australia’s largest mass killing that sparked a radical change in Australia’s gun laws.  If only the USA could respond in a similar way to their all too frequent mass killings.

We had a nice cabin on the property and we walked down to the beach to witness a beautiful sunset.  That night we dined at the only restaurant in the area, in our lodge complex.  A great meal of another new fish - the Gem fish.

Dead Crabs on the beach, Stewards Bay

 The next morning I got up early for a sunrise run on the beach and was surprised to see hundreds and hundreds of dead and dying crabs on the beach.  They were not there the previous night so they must have washed in on the tide that night.  Every now and again there was a live one slowly writhing in the throws of death.  Other than that the sunrise was quite beautiful. 

Port Arthur Penal Colony

The main gaol is an imposing building built out of the beautiful local sandstone, more like a decaying stately home than a prison.  It was hard to imagine the what cruel acts took place there when it was such a wonderful setting - by the side of the bay, with green lawns and eucalyptus forests, adjacent to a rather fine church with nice looking buildings for the wardens and staff.

Maingon Bay

 We then drove south on Safety Cove Road and stopped off to look at some nice coastal rock formations.  One was a lookout over the beautiful Maingon Bay.  The other was a site called the Remarkable Cave.  It was interesting but not worthy of the name “remarkable”.  

Rock Arch near Eaglehawk Neck 

 We then drove on a little loop road around the peninsula, through Nubeena, Premaydena and Taranna.  We then investigated a couple more interesting coastal rock formations near Eaglehawk Neck.

The Dog Line, Eaglehawk Neck

Eaglehawk Neck is a very narrow isthmus of land that separates the southern part of the peninsula.  It is less than 100 ft across.  In the times of the penal settlement in Port Arthur, this was a good defensively line to catch any escaped convicts.  A line of some 9 dogs was set up across the isthmus.  The fierce dogs were positioned close enough to each other that they could almost touch but they could not fight each other.  Any disturbance in the area would set the dogs barking and bring out the guards.  When prisoners started to swim around the dog line they placed dogs on platforms out into the sea.

The Tesselated Beach, Near Port Arthur, Tasmania

 The next stop was a beach with an unusual rock pattern.  The Tesselated Beach eroded such that there was a pattern similar to a pavement.

That was our last stop of our Tasmanian tour.  We drove to the airport, handed in the keys to our car and caught the Jet Star flight to Melbourne.

Australia - Sydney to Melbourne - April 2025

On the next part of our Australia trip we drove from Sydney south towards Melbourne.  Along the coast for a while then cutting inland to the Snowy Mountains before returning to the coast near the Mornington Peninsula before arriving in Melbourne.

I got a reasonably early start on the road from my cousin Jane's house and drove to pick up Diana at her cousin Branco's house in the Warwick Farm suburb of Sydney.  It was morning rush hour but thankfully the traffic wasn't too bad.  I was still trying to get used to the rental car and to driving on the left side of the road so I was taking it very carefully.

Ocean Road near Coledale

After picking up Diana, we headed towards the coast near Stanwell Park.  It was a lovely sunny day, unlike the previous rainy day, and the views along the coast road were quite beautiful.   There was a new section of road with a nice modern bridge near Coledale. 

Coledale Beach

In Coledale we stopped for coffee and cake in a nice artsy coffee shop.  The beach in Coledale was lovely too with beautiful golden sand.

Wollongong Lighthouse

Driving further south we entered Wollongong and stopped to look at the lighthouse there.  In the next town, Port Kembla, here was a lot of industry - a steel works and huge silos for the export of grain.  

The Blowhole at Kiara

At Kiama there was a blowhole on the rocks near the beach.  We stopped to see if the tide was right for some blowhole action.  There were intermittent moderate spouts of water but I wouldn't call it epic in any way.

Mollymook Beach

In the late afternoon, we stopped in the small coastal community of Mollymook.  There was a lovely sandy beach and a couple of kids were surfing.  We bought coffee in the small beachside cafe to sustain us until the evening.  It is remarkable that every small shop or cafe here can produce a pretty good latte  or flat white at any time of the day.

We arrived in Bateman's Bay as the sun was setting and drove through town looking for a hotel.  We found a nice one, the Esplanade Hotel, overlooking the Clyde River as it flows out into Bateman's Bay.   In the evening we dined in a restaurant at the marina just south of the hotel.  We had a nice fish and chips dinner and then i noticed the desert menu featured Christmas Pudding.  That was a little strange in mid-April but as it is one of my favorites I had to try it.  Indeed it was good.

View of Clyde River at Bateman’s Bay

The next morning, Wednesday, we had breakfast at a restaurant by the Clyde River estuary - a rather large bacon and egg sandwich.  Fully fueled, we continued our drive south along the coastal road, the Princes Highway.  

Tilba

We took a diversion of the main road to look at the town of Tilba.  This small community was turning itself into a bit of a tourist town.  There was a lovely old Post Office, an old hotel, and plenty of shops selling bric a brac, t shirts and antiques.  We were shocked when it turned out that one small 1 bath house in Tilba had a listing price of $1.2 million Australian (around US $ 900,000).  Property is not cheap in this part of Australia.

The next town on the road was called Tilba Tilba.  It should be twice as nice as Tilba, but in actual fact there is not much there, just a couple of houses.

Bermagui Beach

The Princes Highway ran a little ways inland so we took a diversion towards the coast and drove through the coastal town of Bermagui.  A fairly plain little town but it had beautiful sandy beaches.   The forests around Bermagui were quite luxuriant - large ferns, yellow mimosa and of course lots of eucalyptus.

Following the minor coastal road was quite slow so we eventually turned back to the Princes Highway, and continued our way south to the town of Bega.  We had been advised by Andy and Jane in Sydney that the prettier road south was through the Snowy Mountains so at Bega we turned west off the Princes Highway onto the Snowy Mountain Highway.

Numbugga on the Snowy Mountain Highway

The countryside was beautiful - lots of cattle and sheep farming.  In the small town of Nimmitabel we stopped for coffee and cake in a cafe.  The coffee was great as was the rock cake.  There was an interesting elephant sculpture in the yard next to the coffee shop - what that was doing there I do not know.

The Elephant in Nimmitabel

We drove on through lovely countryside to the town of Cooma where we filled up with diesel.  Cooma is  larger town, the largest in the area.  I like the style of the old Australian streets, the buildings all have verandahs and there is a lot of decorative ironwork.

The old Kiandra Courthouse and Gaol

We drove further along the Snowy Mountain Highway through Adimanaby.  We stopped to look around the deserted gold mining town of Kiandra.  There is not much there now, just an old courthouse and police station with a gaol.  Since the gold ran out and all mining stopped it was repurposed for a while as a ski chalet.

Kosciusko National Park

The road continued on through the Kosciusko National Park.  The area is sparsely populated but the scenery is very beautiful.

Kangaroo by the Snowy Mountain Highway 

It was getting late in the afternoon and as the sun was getting low it was the time for Australia's wildlife to come out.  Up to this point we had not seen a live kangaroo or wallaby in the wild, just lots and lots of dead animals by the roadside.  But here in the late afternoon the kangaroos and wallabies were getting active and finally we got to see these strange marsupials in the wild.  Lots of them just minding their own business grazing on the grass.

It appears that the wildlife here in Australia is not that smart when it comes to avoiding cars and trucks.  A significant proportion of all cars and all trucks are fitted with heavy duty bumpers, so called Roo Bars.  The wildlife is more active from dusk to dawn and they seem to be drawn to the road where they become mesmerized by the headlights.  The collisions never end well for the wild life and the vehicles don’t do well either unless they have their Roo Bars.

As the sun was setting we drove into the town of Tumut and we searched around for a hotel.  There weren't a lot of hotels to choose from but we did find one close to the center of town and in reasonable shape.  Food choices in Tumut were not great either.  We ended up at a Pizza Parlor that was staffed by young kids under 18.  Since at that age they were not allowed to serve beers, we had to go to the fridge ourselves and take out our own beer.

We had planned to go to Burning Man later in the year, and the lottery for tickets opened on this day,  I got up before 5:00 am to get on line and get in the queue for tickets.  I got on the website at 5:00 the exact time the lottery opened in the US and I waited and waited and waited.  After 25 minutes of watching my web browser spin, I got through and secured the tickets - very nice.

Outside Tumut

We were on the road again by 8:30 in the morning.  We joined the motorway that runs between Sydney and Melbourne for a while.  As we sped along this major road, the landscape looked very similar to the California landscape - sheep, cattle, golden-brown grass with the occasional green Eucalyptus tree or Golden Poplar tree.

The Submarine in Holbrook

We turned off the highway in Holbrook where there is a full size submarine mounted in a park in the middle of town. The town used to be called Germantown but when World War 1 broke out it was thought that Germantown was not an acceptable name for a town so they changed it.  They chose to honor the name of Norman Douglas Holbrook, a submariner who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in the Dardanelles campaign in 1914.  The name was retained after the war and when a submarine became available in 1995 there was a fundraiser to buy the submarine.  That is how a huge submarine now sits in the middle of a park in this town way off the beaten track in New South Wales.

Holbrooke had a few other things going for it too - a Woolpack Museum and a Pottery Museum.  Unfortunately, neither of which we visited.

The Corny Biscuit

We left the highway in Albury, a larger town where we had coffee and a corny biscuit (so called because there are corn flakes on the top of the biscuit).

Controlled Burns in the Kiewa Valley

We drove on towards Wodonga and the Kiewa Valley.  The country side was beautiful - eucalyptus everywhere, sheep, cattle, what looked like very good agricultural land.  They were carrying out controlled burns so there was a bit of smoke in the air.

Mt Bogong, Victoria 

Somewhere along the way we left New South Wales and we were now in Victoria.  We passed by Mt Bogong, the tallest mountain in Victoria at 6,500 ft.  We also went through the town of Beauty, and the adjacent Mt Beauty.  As the name suggests it is quite nice.

We then drove up a very twisty road up the hill to Falls Creek.  At Falls Creek there was a ski resort.  There was no snow at this time but it was above 5,000 ft so there was a chill in the air.  The trees were quite stunted and sparse at this high altitude.

Rocky Valley Reservoir

At the top of the pass above Falls Creek was the Rocky Valley reservoir, a large man-made lake for water storage.  It was a bit bleak up there so high.

Between Omio and Bairnsdale

From Falls Creek and Rocky Valley we dropped down to the east and the lower lands below.  The road downhill was quite scenic and we passed through the small towns of Anglers Rest, Omio, Doctors Flat, Bairnsdale, Bruthen and eventually Sale where we were staying for the night.  It was evening and we encountered wallabies in the road.  You have to be careful driving at night.

Our hotel was a little unusual, it was more like a gated community of town homes.  It was late and there was no one in reception but there was a machine that was supposed to dispense keys for your reservation.  Of course that didn’t work for us.  A phone call finally got someone’s attention and they manually opened the machine to give us our key.

The next morning we had a quick breakfast in the hotel and started our drive towards Melbourne.  Our goal was to be in Melbourne that evening.

We had been told of a winery in the Mornington Peninsula where there was a rather fine sculpture garden, the Point Leo Estate, so we decided to stop off there.  It was about a 3 hour drive to get to the winery.  Surprisingly for a very popular wine growing area we did not see many vineyards.  The vineyards must be well hidden behind the eucalyptus trees.

Queensland Bottle Tree

At the entrance to the winery there was a beautiful tree - a Queensland Bottle Tree - such an unusual tree.

Pumpkin by Kusama

Hare by Flanagan

The sculpture garden was pretty amazing too.  Some 16 or so acres of land with over 70 sculptures and nice views of the ocean.  My favorite pieces were the Kusama Pumpkin and the Flanagan Hare.  That’s probably because I had seen a Kusama Pumpkin in Japan and a Flanagan Hare in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  

Sculpture by KAWS

We spent a pleasant couple of hours walking around and then went into the restaurant for a rather nice lunch.  We tried the Chardonnay and the Pinot, the two wines they are most known for - both were excellent.

Cape Schank Lighthouse

From the winery we drove on to Cape Schank to see the lighthouse.  The lighthouse sits on the southernmost tip of the Mornington Peninsula with great views out into the Bass Strait.  In the grounds of the lighthouse there were a couple of kangaroos grazing on the grass - unusual because they are usually not active in the middle of the afternoon.  They were completely uninterested in us and just kept on nibbling the grass.  After seeing so many dead kangaroos by the side of the road it was nice to see some alive ones.

Portsea

We drove on to the north side of the peninsula  and the towns of Sorrento and Portsea; these face the bay and the city of Melbourne.  They were nice towns, probably second home towns for the people of Melbourne, but not that remarkable.

As the sun was setting we drove into Melbourne.  We were doing well with the driving until we came across the Melbourne Hook Turn.  This is a confusing (to newcomers) way of turning right (remember they drive on the left there) by moving to the left side of the road and waiting for a green light that lets you move across traffic and make your right turn.

The Treasury on Collins Street

We checked into our hotel, the Treasury on Collins, a very fine old financial building. The room was great with a nice balcony and a view of the city.  Unlimited free snacks and drinks so we didn’t need to go out for dinner that night.

Fresh Fish at the Victoria Market

The next morning after breakfast at the hotel we set off to turn our car in and explore the city.  The Europcar rental office was nearby the Victoria Market so after dropping the car off we went to the market.  It was a most wonderful market - all manner of great product - fish, meat, fruits, vegetables and all sorts of clothing, hats and trinkets.  I have never seen a market in the US or the UK with such a wonderful selection of produce.

The giant thumb at the National Gallery of Victoria

From the market we walked down Flinders Street, through a heavily Chinese and Asian neighborhood to the Flinders Railway Station.  The area around the station is quite the center of activity in Melbourne - the station, churches, museums, the river.  We walked over the Yarra River to the National Gallery of Victoria.  

Dancing Pumpkin by Kusama

In the main lobby of the museum was another Kusama Pumpkin, this one a dancing pumpkin.  The gallery has a great collection of works - aboriginal art, Australian art, and even European art.

Camp Sovereignty, Kings Domain, Melbourne

After the museum we walked over the street to the Queen Victoria Park and the Kings Domain where there was a small group of Aboriginal people with a huge sign identifying the area as Camp Sovereignty.  It is an ongoing demonstration asserting Aboriginal sovereignty and self determination and it has been going on in the same area since 2006.  Other than the big sign it was quite low key.

Headless King George

In the same park area there was a statue of King George V.  Unfortunately, someone had chopped off George’s head - it was a headless statue.  The whereabouts of the head are unknown however it did show up on the side of the stage at a recent concert by a Northern Irish Hip Hop Group.  The Northern Irish have similar complaints to the Aborigines in this case.

Shrine of Remembrance, War Memorial, Melbourne

Further along in the park was a large and very impressive memorial built to honor the dead of World War I.  Australia have a lot of memorials to the dead in World War I. 

Wiper Statue, Melbourne

There is also a statue of 2 soldiers from that war - the Driver and the Wiper.  The Driver is a statue of a horse handler in WWI, the Wiper is a soldier from the front lines.  Wiper being a derivative of the Belgian city of Ypres where one of the more significant battles took place.

We next walked through the splendid Royal Botanic Gardens - majestic trees and beautiful plants and bushes.  This led us to the Yarra River and to the center of town from where we took a tram back to our hotel.  One of the nice things about Melbourne is that the trams around the Central Business District are all free to everyone.

Yarra River, Melbourne

We sampled some more Australian wine at the “free wine hour” at our hotel.  Their wines in this part of the world are particularly good.  Later in the evening we went out for a nice meal at Bistrot d’ Orsay, a nice French restaurant just down the street from our hotel.

Block Arcade, Melbourne

The next morning, Easter Sunday, we walked down the Collins Street from the hotel and explored some of the old arcades that have been preserved.  A particularly nice one was the Block Arcade.  It had beautiful old shops.  One was a cake shop that had the most wonderful display of cakes in the window.  

Tea Rooms, Block Arcade, Melbourne

Trumpeters Clock, Block Arcade, Melbourne

That same arcade had a clock with two trumpet players on either side.  When it was time to strike the hour, the pipers lifted their horns and moved into position while horn music was played.  Quite wonderful!

Graffiti, Melbourne

We  then stumbled on an area with lots of graffiti.  We spent an enjoyable 30 minutes or so photographing the interesting and clever graffiti.

Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria

Next we visited another facility of the National Gallery of Victoria, a gallery primarily devoted to Aboriginal Art.  Another wonderful exhibition. 

Outside the Gallery is the Federation Square, a nice pedestrian area full of people and restaurants and coffee shops, all surrounded by very modern buildings.  A nice place to spend some time relaxing in the city.

Vintage Tram, Melbourne

We next took a tram on the circular route around the center of the city.  This route is serviced by older more historic trams and of course it is free.

Royal Exhibition Hall, Melbourne

We got off the tram outside the Royal Exhibition Hall.  A wonderfully ornate Victorian era building with a domed roof built in 1880.  

Mural, High Street, Northcote

Next stop was High Street in Northcote.  We had read that this street had been designated as the coolest street in the whole world.  That is an impressive title so we had to take a look.  We took and Uber out there and walked the street for a while.  To be honest, we didn’t find it to be that cool.  It was a bit bohemian maybe but it was also quite shabby.  Maybe we didn’t find the right part of the street but we were not impressed and took an Uber back to the city.

State Library of Victoria

We stopped in the State Library of Victoria.  A nice old building with a wonderful central reading room.  We walked up to the 6th floor from which there is a great view down to the reading room below.  On the ground floor there is a glass cabinet containing the armor of Ned Kelly, Australia’s most infamous outlaw.  The armor must have been quite heavy and while it did protect him from a fatal shot, it likely restricted his ability to escape from the police.  They tried him and found him guilty and he was hanged in Old Melbourne Gaol.

Ned Kelly’s Armor, State Library of Victoria

We took the tram back to our hotel and indulged in the wine hour.  Then we went out for a great meal at La Reine et La Rue, a restaurant in an old bank building near the hotel.  What a great environment for a restaurant and a great meal.  A little expensive but well worth it.

Bank Building/Museum

The next morning, our last in Melbourne, we went out for another walk down Collins Street.  We visited the bank in the same building as the previous night’s restaurant.  While it is still a working bank it is also a museum showing off what splendid building the bank was in its heyday.  

Manchester Insurance Building

We also looked inside the old Manchester Insurance Building.  It is a little shabby now, but there were glimpses of its splendid art deco past.

By mid morning we were back in the hotel to check out and take an Uber to the airport for our Jetstar flight to Hobart, Tasmania.  Melbourne is indeed a very fine city.